News storyLow Carbon Hub ground mount solar survey
We want to hear your thoughts on ground mount solar in Oxfordshire We are facing a climate emergency, which demands that we transition to zero carbon as soon as possible. Energy plays a huge part in this. How we achieve this is still under debate – but it’s clear that we must: reduce energy demand…Find out moreOxford’s climate emergency – and the role of the Low Carbon Hub
In January 2019 the Oxford City Council officially declared a climate emergency in Oxford. In April they announced that Oxford would hold the UK’s first citizens assembly, to discuss how we should address the climate crisis within Oxford. This citizens assembly was held over two weekends at the Said Business School, the first in September 2019…Our Hub highlights of 2019
As 2019 comes to a close, we wanted to reflect on our Hub highlights of the year – it’s been a big one! Community Energy Fund 2019 We re-opened our Community Energy Fund for 2019, welcoming over 200 new investors and raising a huge £734,900, which is now already supporting community energy – increasing our portfolio…An update on Cosy Homes Oxfordshire – our home retrofit pilot project
In February 2019 we announced that Low Carbon Hub were part of a consortium (alongside RetrofitWorksand National Energy Foundation) which had won a bid with the Department for Business, Energy, and Industry Strategy (BEIS) to develop a home retrofit scheme in Oxfordshire. This bid became Cosy Homes Oxfordshire –a home retrofit service aiming to help…Work in the building industry and interested in retrofit projects?
Do you have a background in the building industry? If so, would you like to train and become a Retrofit Coordinator? Cosy Homes Oxfordshire is a partnership project being delivered by Low Carbon Hub, RetrofitWorks and the National Energy Foundation to help homeowners improve the energy efficiency of their homes. It’s a scheme which is new…We’ve moved office
Over the past eight years, the Low Carbon Hub has more than trebled in size. At its smallest, our team consisted of 3 members of staff and we have grown to our current number of 16! We have also increased the number of our investor members to over 1000, a number which we hope will…The role of home energy efficiency in our climate emergency
Home energy consumption accounts for around 30% of total energy used in the UK, and around 20% of our total carbon emissions. According to Ofgem, the average UK home with a medium energy consumption uses 12,000 kWh of gas per year and 3,100 kWh of electricity per year. That represents total carbon emissions of 3,067kg…Our 29 solar schools – an update
Over the past eight years, the Low Carbon Hub has partnered with 29 schools to install 5,647 solar PV panels. Our Solar Schools service offers schools a comprehensive solar installation service to power your schools with community-owned, discounted green electricity. Schools signing up for a free solar rooftop survey can apply for a grant to…CTG solar roof expansion
In November 2019 we installed an extension to our existing solar project on the roof of UTC Aerospace Systems CTG in Banbury, Oxfordshire. The background This solar roof array was already our largest rooftop solar install, and thought to be the UK’s largest community-owned rooftop solar array. When first installed, there were 2590 solar pv…MSc Students visit Sandford Hydro
On 17 October a group of Oxford University master’s students visited Sandford Hydro as part of their Energy Systems course. The group received a tour from Harry Orchard, our Operations and Maintenance Assistant, and were shown the inner workings of the electric hydro plant. They went inside the control room where it’s possible to see the overview…Inspired by Communities event: a roundup
We would like to say a massive thank you to all who came to the ‘Inspired by Communities’ event prior to the Low Carbon Hub Joint AGM on 7 October and who helped to make it such a genuinely inspiring experience. The room at the Town Hall was full with many of our CIC shareholder…Do you know a trusted building professional based in Oxfordshire?
Cosy Homes Oxfordshire, a home retrofit service, has recently launched and we are seeking to register new building contractors (builders, architects, energy assessors, surveyors, and more) and Retrofit Coordinators to undertake energy efficiency improvement work across Oxfordshire. If you work within the construction industry or building trades, or know someone who does, then encourage them…Results of our 2019 annual survey
For the third year in a row, we are thrilled to report that most people who responded to our annual ‘How are we doing? survey find us to be committed to the creation of a low carbon, locally-owned renewable energy system and trust in our expertise. Every year we ask our members, supporters, community groups,…Oxford City Council agrees new loan of £2.3m to support growth of community energy in Oxfordshire
At a meeting of cabinet on 29 May 2019, Oxford City Council agreed to renew their offer of a revolving loan facility of £2.3m to Low Carbon Hub to support the build of more community energy projects in Oxfordshire. The funds will enable the Low Carbon Hub to build more renewable energy projects across the…£40m project to lead energy innovation in Oxfordshire launches
We are really excited to announce the launch of Project LEO or ‘Local Energy Oxfordshire’ – a £40m three-year collaborative project that will change the energy system as we know it. The project has been awarded £13.8m from the UK Government Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, managed by Innovate UK, and will be supported by £26m…Three communities donate funding from carrier bag charges to Low Carbon Hub
We were thrilled to hear that three communities in Oxfordshire offered to combine the funding raised through the carrier bag charge in their local Co-ops and donate it to our Community Benefit Fund. Many thanks to communities involved in Banbury, Central Oxford and Kidlington & North West Oxfordshire for this donation of just over £9,000. The…Over £720,000 of investment raised in latest round of the Community Energy Fund
We are thrilled to announce that the 2019 round of our Community Energy Fund raised £726,650 in investment to support community energy in Oxfordshire. We’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone who chose to invest in us and put their money to work tackling climate change. In addition to investment raised through…Low Carbon Hub and partners win bid to bring home retrofit project to Oxfordshire
We are really pleased to announce we have led a winning consortium bid with the Department for Business, Energy and Industry Strategy (BEIS) to lay the foundations for developing a home retrofit scheme in Oxfordshire. Delivering the project will be the Low Carbon Hub, the National Energy Foundation which is already active in the county providing the…Our highlights for 2018
This time of year is a great opportunity to reflect and so we’ve picked out a few highlights of what we got up to this past year, all possible thanks to the help and support of our investor and community members and partners. We launched an exciting new opportunity to support community energy through the Community…Low Carbon Hub wins European Solar Prize
The Low Carbon Hub is to be awarded a European Solar Prize 2018 at an award ceremony in Bonn on 17 November 2018. Every year EUROSOLAR awards the European Solar Prize to role models and pioneers in the field of renewable energy and brings a wide variety of energy transition actors from all parts of…Welcome to our 28th solar school: Longfields Primary School
We’re really pleased to welcome our 28th solar school to the Low Carbon Hub. Longfields Primary and Nursery School in Bicester now have a fully installed array of solar panels that will provide around a third of the school’s energy needs. Longfields is the latest to join a growing number of schools across Oxfordshire to…£1m fund created to power community-run energy
Low Carbon Hub has joined forces with an expert consortium of partners in a new project called The Next Generation, a fund to develop new decentralised, decarbonised, and democratised energy business models. The Next Generation fund will provide grants of up to £100,000 to ten community energy groups to work on new business models for…An update on Sandford Hydro (November 2018)
The new generation season for Sandford Hydro is restarting again with the (slow) return of the rains! Clean electricity is now being generated by the hydro on the weir at Sandford, although not yet at full power. It is the large winter output of the hydro that brilliantly complements solar panels, which this summer experienced record…10 Reasons to Invest in the Low Carbon Hub
There are lots of reasons to invest in the Low Carbon Hub. When we ask our investors, they talk about wanting to do their bit to tackle climate change, support local projects and make their money do a social good. Check out our infographic below where we’ve picked out just ten reasons to invest in…Solar powered schools have a great summer in 2018
As you’ve probably noticed, it has been fairly sunny in Oxfordshire recently! This means that at the moment some of our solar schools who are getting most of their electricity from their solar panels. They are not only using renewable energy and cutting CO2 emissions, but they are also saving money! Percentage of electricity currently coming from…Results of our 2018 annual survey
The results are in for our 2018 ‘How are we doing?’ survey and they show that people continue to trust in our expertise around local, renewable energy and low carbon. Our respondents also continue to perceive us to be committed to the creation of a low carbon, locally owned renewable energy system. We’re really pleased…New Community Director elected to the Low Carbon Hub Board
Following a recent election, the community group members of Low Carbon Hub’s CIC have elected a new Community Director to the Board of Directors: Nina Alphey. Nina is a long-term member of Westmill Solar Co-operative Ltd and has served on its Board since 2016. She was also an active member of low carbon community group…Grants now available to Low Carbon Hub community members
Large grants We are offering two grants of up to £5,000 for this year’s large grants fund, available to our community group members. These grants are part of the ‘community benefit’ we return to communities. The year’s theme is energy efficiency. We are interested in applications relating to residential, commercial and public buildings; your project…Our highlights for 2017
2017 has been a busy year with some key milestones and achievements for the Low Carbon Hub, including the completion of the Sandford Hydro project, receiving £1.2m in European Regional Development Funding and producing our first ever Social Impact Report. And there were lots of other exciting bits of news in between. Take a look…Our Community Grants in Action: Watchfield Village Hall solar
As well as providing help and advice, Low Carbon Hub also offers financial support to our community shareholder groups wanting to carry out carbon-cutting activity in their community. Here is a case study of what one group did with a small grant we awarded them. Westmill Sustainable Energy Trust (WeSET) was one of the last community groups to successfully…A birds eye view of CTG’s solar panels
This video, courtesy of Stone’s Throw Media, shows an unused roof at UTC Aerospace Systems CTG in Banbury being transformed into a people’s power station. Work with us We want to work with more local businesses to develop ‘people’s power stations’ for community benefit.Press release: UK’s biggest community-owned solar roof is up at UTC Aerospace Systems CTG
First project for social developer Low Carbon Hub within new FiTs regime Oxford, 21 November 2016 ~ CTG, a Banbury-based site of UTC Aerospace Systems, is now host to the UK’s biggest community-owned rooftop solar array. At 712kW, the 2590 panel project will generate 593,304 kWh of clean electricity every year — enough to power 150…Poll results: colour for Sandford Hydro screws
We asked and you chose a colour for the Archimedes screws at Sandford! Last week we did a poll to ask what colour we should specify for the three Archimedes screws at Sandford Hydro. With 36% of the vote the winner was Water Blue RAL 5021! If you’d like to receive occasional updates just about progress…Low Carbon Hub wins UK Ashden Award
We’ve won the world’s leading green energy award! Low Carbon Hub has won the UK Ashden Award for Sustainable Communities. Our clean energy social enterprise is a joint winner with Repowering London. The award ceremony this evening (9th June) will include winners from the UK, Africa, Indonesia, Mauritania, Asia and Central America — a truly global…
